Metallic-tire.



No. 898,029. I PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1903. W. R. BARBOUR.

Y METALLIC TIRE.

- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA YR.16,,1907.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WOLSEY R. BARBOUR, OF TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA.

METALLIC TIRE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, I/VoLsEY R. BARBOUR, citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and resident of Terre Haute, in the county of Vigo and State ofIndiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in MetallicTires, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to vehicles and particularly to tires for vehiclewheels.

An object of this invention is to provide novel means for permittingaccess of air between the rim of the wheel and the tire whereby throughthe medium of circulation of air, undue heating of the rim is prevented.It has been found in practice that as the rim becomes dry, shrinkageresults and the tire becomes loose and the rim becomes brittle and iseasily fractured.

By the use of my invention I provide, as stated, the free circulation ofair around the rim or felly, thus obviating drying out of the felly orrim. By the use of my invention I also provide means for permitting theapplication of a preservative to the felly or rim, and such preservativemay take the form of linseed oil or other liquid which will fiow in achannel around the felly, permitting the said felly to absorb the liquidto maintain the felly in its elastic state and prevent drying of thesame; or to prevent the saturation of the felly with water, which mayfind its way between the tire and felly. This is especially I efiectivein preventing the felly from shrinking in dry weather and the expansionthereof in wet weather, when in ordinary tires moisture finds its waybetween the tire and felly.

A still further object of this invention is to provide means forincreasing the strength of a tire which is hollowed out in itsundersurface to lighten the tire, by this means I may attain amaXimumrigidity and strength with a minimum weight and mass of material, but atthe same time accomplish the result of permitting the circulation of airor liquid between the tire and felly.

A still further object of this invention is to provide novel means forpermitting the application of liquid tothe channel between the felly andtire.

A further object of this invention is to provide a tire which will havea tendency to defleet stones from its path of travel when contactingwith said stones, the said tire also Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 16, 1907.

Patented Sept. 8, 1908.

Serial No. 368,472.

vehicle equipped with these tires will be lighter in draft and will rideeasier and make less noise than the ordinary flat tires and, owing tothe elasticity of the tire, the life of the wheel will be increased.

By reason of novel reinforcing devices on the interior of the tire, I amable to use less material for a given strength than is possible with anyother form of tire and by reason of these reinforcing devices, splittingor breaking down of the tire is prevented.

A further object of this invention is to provide novel means to protectthe sides of the felly so that the paint will not be marred andfurthermore the arrangement of the tire with relation to the fellyprotects the felly from the action of the sun and water. Owing to anovel construction of the edges of the tire, the wheel will more readilycrawl out of ruts or car tracks, as the sharpened edges of the tire willengage the said track or the sides of the ruts and ride therefrom.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a tire of thecharacter noted which will be simple in construction, efficient inpractice and inexpensive to manufacture.

W ith the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists inthe details of construction and in the arrangement and combination ofparts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification wherein likecharacters denote corresponding parts in the several views, in whichFigure 1, is a perspective view of a tire applied to a felly. Fig. 2, isa sectional view thereof through the bolt hole. Fig. 3, is amodification thereof. Fig. 4, is a longitudinal sectional view of themodification. Figs. 5 and 6 are further modifications.

In these drawings A, denotes the felly which may be of anyordinaryconstruction for any weight vehicle and B, is the tire embodied.in the invention.

The contour of the outer surface of the tire may be elliptical or nearlyhalf round, although I prefer that the surface of the tire from the edgeto the center thereof will describe a compound curve, as shown in thedrawings. The edge of the tire is beveled, as at l), and the junction ofthe beveled portion with the upper surface thereof produces a sharp edgewhich is designed to engage a rail or the sides of a rut to permit thewheel to climb from the rail or rut in travel.

The sectional view of the drawing shows that the central portion of thetire is increased in thickness as .compared with the tire near the edgethereof, and by reason of this thickened. portion, the outer surfaceofthe tire is curved transversely so that the tread of the tire underordinary conditions is very limited; in fact, on hard roadbeds thecontacting surface of the tire is very small, but the surface isincreased as the tire is permitted to sink into the roadbed. When hardroadbeds, cobble stones or other unyielding surfaces are encountered,the contacting surfaces are so small as to minimize the draft of thevehicle.

In order to lighten the tire and for the further purpose of permittingcirculation of air between the tire and the felly, and for the stillfurther purpose of permitting the flow of liquid between the tire andthe felly, I have provided an annular recess C, in the undersurface ofthe tire which, when the tire is in contact with the felly, forms achannel,

through which air or liquid may circulate to accomplish the resultheretofore stated. That is to say, the circulation of air preventsheating of the felly and the consequent drying out of the said felly, orthe channel thus formed permits oil or other preservative to be appliedto the outer surface of the felly without removing the tire.

As is shown in the drawings, the tire is secured in place by a series ofbolts D, extending through the tire and felly and when it is desired toapply oil or other preservative to the channel, one of the bolts isremoved and by plugging the lower end of the hole through the felly, oilmay be applied from the top and permitted to flow, as stated, betweenthe tire and felly.

' Another great advantage of this construc tion is, that owing to thefact that pressure is removed from the ends of the spokes which mayproject through the felly, the ends of said spokes are not marred orbattered and their durability is not curtailed. If desired there may bea slight bevel E, at the junction of the recessed portion and theundersurface of the tire to further obviate a contact of the tire withthe spokes. As will be seen from an inspection of the drawing, if thetire strikes an obstruction, the action of the blow on the felly isequalized and distributed to such an extent as to prevent splitting orsplintering of one side.

In order to permit the utilization of a mini mum amount-of metal in themanufacture of a tire without materially reducing the strength thereof,I have adopted the construction embodied in the modification wherein therecess-F, is larger in proportion than the channel in the form shown inFig. 1, and the thickness of the tire is practically uniform. In orderto reinforce the tire to prevent bending or fracture when contactingwith obstructions, I provide a series of transversely disposed ribs G,equidistantly spaced throughout the length of the tire and tending tostrengthen the said tire as stated. In order, however, not to interferewith the free circulation of the air or the free flow of the liquidbetween the felly and tire, I slightly recess each of the ribs as shownat 9, so that when the tire is in place, the channel formed between thetire and felly would be to all practical purposes, the same as thatheretofore disclosed, and it is designed to accomplish the same result.

Tires made in accordance with this disclosure will readily ride over icecovered roadbeds without skidding asthe contacting surface of the tireis such as to cause it to be slightly embedded in the ice .and thisprevents the sidewise sliding action. A tire 7 made in accordance withthis invention will 100 also readily displace loose stones with which itcomes in contact so that instead of riding over the said stones, thetendency is to displace the stones and remove them from the path oftravel of the vehicle.

What I claim is:

1. In a vehicle wheel, a suitable tire, said tire having recesses in itsinner surface inter rupted by a series of transverse ribs, the said ribshaving recesses. 110

2. In a vehicle wheel, a felly, a tire secured thereto, said tire beingapproximately semi-elliptical in cross section and having an annulargroove adapted when applied to the felly to form a channel, said channelbeing 115 interrupted by a series of transverse ribs, said ribs havingrecesses, said'tire extending beyond either side of the felly, theportions of the tire beyond the felly being beveled.

3. In a vehicle wheel, a felly, a tire se- 120 cured thereto, said tirebeing approximately semi-elliptical in cross section and having anannular groove adapted when applied to the felly to form a channel, saidchannel being interrupted by a series of transverse ribs, said mergingwith concavities near the edges of the tire, the said tire being ofgreater width than the felly, the portions beyond the fellyhaving theirunder surfaces beveled from the felly and merging with the outer ortread surface of the tire at acute angles.

5. A new article of manufacture consisting of a vehicle tire, the edgesof the tire being adapted to extend beyond the sides of a felly when thetire is attached thereto, the outer surface of the tire having a convexcenter and concaved on the sides of the center toward the edges, thesurface of the said felly toward each edge extending away from the innersurface of the tire, each edge of the tire being beveled from its innersurface to a point of intersection with the outer surface of the tire.

6. A metallic vehicle tire having a flat inner surface adapted to lie onthe felly, the edges of the tire being extended beyond the sides of thefolly when the tire is attached thereto, the outer surface of the tirehaving a convexed tread surface with an annular concavity on each sideof the convexed tread surface, the portions of the tire extending beyondthe felly having the under surfaces beveled toward and merging withthose portions of the tire having the concavities, whereby the upper andlower walls of the tire merge on an acute angle.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses this 8th day of April, 1907.

WOLSEY R. BARBOUR. Witnesses:

THOMAS J. KELLY, ALBERT J. KELLEY.

